Inside the Ryan budget pushback

With the announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate, Democrats have made their strategy clear: They intend to make Ryan EVERY Republican candidate’s running mate.

That’s left Republicans scrambling to inoculate their House and Senate candidates and provide some guidelines on how to respond effectively to the expected onslaught.

The above private presentation is one example, in addition to the public and private memos that began circulating through the GOP ranks this weekend.

It’s a case study, narrated by NRCC political director Mike Shields and sent to a list of GOP insiders Sunday afternoon, explaining how Republican Mark Amodei managed to overcome Ryan budget and Medicare attacks win the 2011 special election in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

"The media is eager to write stories that we are suddenly on defense and that choosing Ryan for VP will cost us votes with seniors. This is absurd since a. the Democrats were going to hit us on the Ryan plan anyway and b. we have proven you can successfully push back so long as you play offense," Shields writes in his message.

The unlisted YouTube link was provided to POLITICO by a GOP source.

The presentation, which features Amodei’s campaign commercials, mailers and polling data, is designed “to show Republicans how they can push back on false Democratic attacks on Medicare cuts and the Ryan plan specifically by pushing back on Democrats and attacking them on Obamacare.”

What’s most interesting about the case study is its straightforward acknowledgment of the difficulties Republicans have had with the politics of Medicare ("we always start out at a deficit"), and the conclusion about the best way to fight back — to go on offense and fight the issue to a draw so that the race can move on to economic issues where the GOP is better positioned.

“We can’t just walk away from this,” Shields explains. “We can’t just play defense or even ignore the issue. We’ve got to do something about it. We also know that Republicans have a strong message that’s capable of fighting Medicare to a tie.”

Here are the NRCC’s “lessons learned:”

Inoculate by pledging to save and protect Medicare; use credible third party validators (mom or seniors)